


5 Tattoos Sheppard’s Team Have Seen, And 1 They Haven’t

by Charlotte_Lancer



Series: Sheppard/Holland fics [5]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Angst and Humor, Gen, Humor, M/M, Not Beta Read, Past Character Death, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28828848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlotte_Lancer/pseuds/Charlotte_Lancer
Summary: In which Sheppard has (possibly) too many tattoos, and McKay has (definitely) too many questions.
Relationships: Past John Sheppard/Nancy Sheppard, Past Lyle Holland/John Sheppard
Series: Sheppard/Holland fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1965952
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	5 Tattoos Sheppard’s Team Have Seen, And 1 They Haven’t

1- The Cliche

It was the 90’s, alright? He knows  _ now  _ that a barbed wire armband tattoo is possibly the most cliche thing he could have paid to have put on his upper arm, but he was young, on leave, and possibly a tiny bit drunk when he made the decision.

Not that Rodney cares about any of those excuses, the day his sleeve rides up enough to reveal the design.

“Sheppard, is that a  _ tattoo  _ on your arm?” Sheppard looks back and sees that McKay has stopped short on the path back to the stargate, and is now openly gawking at the thin band of black ink that’s narrowly exposed by Sheppard’s short-sleeved shirt.

Teyla and Ford stop as well, and Sheppard belatedly tugs the sleeve back into place.

“I was 25. It seemed like a good idea at the time,” he defends, keenly aware of Ford’s badly-hidden grin. Sheppard expects that the tattoo will be common knowledge among Atlantis personnel by breakfast tomorrow, and mentally resigns himself to at least a month of teasing from the Marines.

“A good idea! Are you serious? Do you know how many diseases you can get from improperly sterilized tattoo equipment! Why would-”

“McKay,” Sheppard says, cutting short what’s building up to be a lengthy rant on bloodborne pathogens, “if it hasn’t killed me yet, I don’t think it’s going to now.”

“I still can’t believe you have a tattoo,” McKay says, a weirdly put-out expression on his face.

“Believe it, McKay, and start walking.” Sheppard starts toward the gate without waiting for a response, and three sets of footsteps follow him as he goes.

2- The Lost Bet

The next time his team sees one of his tattoos, it’s because his other sleeve has been ripped clean off during a fight. McKay manages to get off one Captain Kirk joke before noticing the faded remnants of the tribal armband wrapped around Sheppard’s bicep and switching tracks entirely.

“Another one, Sheppard? And why is this one grey?”

Sheppard rolls his eyes and sets his backpack down in front of him. “Lost a bet,” he says, pulling the first aid kit open and grabbing a packet of disinfectant. “It’s gray because I was halfway through removing it when we left Earth.” The cuts on his arm aren’t as deep as they could be, and he’s pretty sure that they won’t need stitches. One of the cuts runs straight through the triangle-dot-and-lines design of the tattoo, and he takes the opportunity to wrap the entire thing in bandages before McKay can study it any further.

Later, when they’re all being examined in the infirmary, Ronon comments, “Nice,” nodding at the tattoo, and Sheppard decides that things could have been worse. At least it wasn’t pink, like the terms of the bet had originally specified, before the tattoo artist had thankfully turned out to be completely out of the color.

3- The Bad Decision

In retrospect, getting Nancy’s name tattooed on his collarbone wasn’t such a great idea. In his defense, it had been her idea, and she had his name tattooed on her shoulder as well.

The artist had warned them that it was bad luck to get someone’s name tattooed on you, but they hadn’t listened. Sheppard’s pretty sure it wouldn’t have saved them even if they had.

At least this tattoo he shows his team by choice. It’s team night, this time in his quarters, and a few too many beers has somehow led to a decision to introduce Teyla and Ronon to the Earth game of Truth Or Dare. Sheppard’s pretty sure Rodney made the suggestion, but in the morning neither of them will be able to agree whose idea it had been. Either way, Teyla had immediately seconded the idea, and soon enough the four of them were playing a game that Sheppard most closely associated with bad movies and middle schoolers.

Halfway through the fourth round of the game- and the fifth round of the not-quite-beer they’d picked up last time they had an off-world mission- Rodney’s empty bottle lands on Sheppard, and Sheppard picks ‘truth’, not wanting to move from his spot leaned against his bed.

“Alright,” Rodney says, voice loose with inebriation, “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever, um, bought?” Rodney makes a strange gesture that Sheppard supposes is supposed to indicate purchasing something, but actually looks more he’s trying to mime someone reeling in a fish.

“Probably this,” Sheppard says, tugging the collar of his shirt low enough to reveal the name written in his skin. This one too is faded, partially removed before setting off into another galaxy, and the thin curved line that once underlined the lettering is nearly invisible from a distance. It’s too bad he hadn’t had the name done in the same style, he thinks.

Rodney accepts this answer with unexpected calmness, merely nodding at the tattoo as if to confirm that it  _ is  _ in fact a bad purchase. Sheppard lets his shirt slip back into place, and the game continues on without comment.

4- The Celebration

It’s Teyla who notices the next one. They’ve been kidnapped by a planet of ‘peaceful traders’- sometimes Sheppard wonders if everyone’s luck is this bad, or if the Pegasus galaxy just has it out for him specifically- and the two of them are stuck in what passes for a holding cell on the newest planet of evil farmers, with their arms chained above their heads while they wait for rescue from Ronon and McKay.

“Colonel, what is that symbol on your side?” Teyla asks, peering at the strip of skin exposed between his pants and his raised shirt.

Sheppard twists to look down at it, his shirt riding up even further in the process.

“It’s a helicopter,” he says. “Earth vehicle. Flying one.” He may or may not have a concussion from being thrown around a bit by a particularly large evil farmer. “Drew it myself, after the first time I flew one.” The depiction isn’t particularly good- more cartoonish than anything, and you certainly can’t identify a model from the image- but he’d been happy enough with it to take it to a shop and have it tattooed onto the side of his hip. The art could have been better, sure, but he was still proud of what it stood for, and he wouldn’t change it now even if he could.

He explains it again once they’re back on Atlantis, after he’s recovered from what Beckett terms a ‘mild concussion’, since his first explanation didn’t really explain all that much, and also because McKay and Ronon had both caught sight of it during the rescue, and later expressed invasive and cultural curiosity, respectively.

5- The Half of a Set

“What possible reason could you have for tattooing an outline of the Netherlands on your chest? Did you lose another bet? To someone Dutch?”

_ Dutch.  _ Just the sound of the name makes Sheppard’s chest feel tight, even if Rodney’s talking about the nationality rather than the man, and Sheppard immensely regrets agreeing to participate in this harvest festival. Apparently on this planet it was unlucky for men to wear shirts before the first snowfall. His only solace is that McKay seems even less comfortable than he is, though that’s apt to change if McKay keeps up this line of questioning.

“Drop it, McKay,” Sheppard says, trying to focus back in on keeping his balance on the small stump that the native’s ritual requires him to stand on in order to ‘prove his intent’ or something like that. He trusts that Teyla has a better handle on what the village elder had said to them.

Speaking of Teyla, she and Ronon are each standing on their own narrowed stumps, eyes closed, looking for all the world like they’re perfectly happy doing so. Neither of them are paying attention to him or Rodney.

“No, seriously, Sheppard, an outline of the U.S. I could maybe understand, what with your military’s whole ‘patriotism and tradition’ thing-” Rodney makes a wavy gesture with his hand, and then ends up windmilling his arms comically when he nearly loses his balance on the tree stump- “But you don’t live in the Netherlands, and with a name like ‘Sheppard’ I’m pretty sure your family isn’t from their, either.”

“I  _ said _ drop it, McKay. I’m not discussing this one with you.” For several reasons, not least of which being that he could lose his job for doing so.

Rodney scoffs, and Sheppard tunes him out, closing his eyes and concentrating on standing still.

It works. For about thirty seconds.

“Was your honeymoon in Amsterdam? Did you fly something particularly impressive in the Netherlands? How about…” McKay offers idea after idea, each one more ridiculous than the last. When McKay suggests that Sheppard is secretly a spy for the Dutch government, and that everything from his accent to the barbed wire band is part of his cover, Sheppard finally gives in as a defense, before Rodney can come up with something even more incriminating than the truth.

“I slept with someone named Holland,” Sheppard growls out, voice hard. “Holland’s dead. Now fucking shut up about it.”

Rodney, to his credit, does shut up about it, and Sheppard bites back the reprimand that’s waiting on the tip of his tongue, eyes pressed shut against the stress headache he can already feel forming.

This mission has set a new low for harvest festivals, and as soon as he’s back on Atlantis he’s switching the planet into Lorne’s team’s jurisdiction.

+1… And It’s Match

His team never sees the outline’s symbolic match. Where Sheppard had gotten an image of the Netherlands, Holland had put an equally inexplicable-to-anyone-else flock of outline-only sheep. He and Holland has come up with the idea one night in bed, enjoying the post-sex high before Sheppard had to sneak back to his own quarters or risk being caught. They couldn’t exchange rings, Holland had said, but they could do this. A way to keep a reminder of each other close even when they were apart, he’d said.

Sheppard had agreed, and soon the plan was made.

They went to different artists, different studios on opposite sides of the city, and paid cash using false names, and came away with tattoos that matched only if you already knew that they did.

No one ever saw either of the tattoos except the two of them, until that day at the harvest festival, where Sheppard’s team had seen the outline of Holland’s namesake country etched into Sheppard’s skin, complete with island and inlets and every other detail that he had been able to sketch out, all kept sharp with touch-ups and years of fond care.

He wishes that his team had seen the sheep that day as well. He’d be happy to take whatever amount of teasing Rodney would have to dish out, as long as Holland could be there to take it with him.


End file.
